Shoe construction



m I945- s. P. LOVELL ETAL ,37 ,4

SHOE CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 21, 1941 V INVENTORJ. MflWF 3 Patented Ag... 10, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I snon c o irucrlon q I Stanley P. Lovell, Newtonvllle, and Frank 1!. Busseli, Needham Masa, assignora' to Beckwlth Manufacturing Company, Dover, N. IL, a cor poration oi' New Hampshire v Application February 21, 1941, Serial No. 380,026 1 Claim. (CI. 36-77) Our invention relates to the construction of footwear and especially to-the stiffened or reinforced areas of shoe uppers. By our invention a shoe having a box toe or counter of relatively indestructible quality is produced and thiswith a definite speeding up in the time necessary to last v the shoe upper. In another aspectour invention comprises a novel composite lining fabric includ-.

-ing a band or hands of stiffening compound bonded thereto and having the latent capacity of being readily rendered plastic and adhesive in the shoemaking process. Our invention includes within its scope the novel shoe structure herein shown as produced by carrying out the process of our invention.

We are aware of U. S. Patent No. 2,009,291 issued July 23, 1935, to Ferguson and Hickler disclosing a shoe in which the integuments of lining and upper material are filled with a liquifled material later susceptible of. hardening in situ. In their invention the customary stiffening blanks are omitted and adequate stiffness is obtained by the stiffening compound itself. There are serious practical difilculties however in requiring the laster to apply a liquid stifienin'g solution to both lining and upper at this stage of the shoe making process and. in maintaining the solution at Acetone the proper consistency. An objectionable delay is thus incurred before the solution dries enough to permit the upper to be pulled over. We overcome the practical shoemaking difllculties and expense of the process of that patent and yet produce a shoe of finer wearing and style qualities.

In carrying out our invention we may select any commercial shoe lining material preferably in sheet form capable of being rolled or coiled. With a doctor knife or other suitable distributing means we apply to one surface of such goods one or more lengthwise bands as a coating or an impregnation of liquified stiffener compound. The widthand positioning of our bands will vary, depending on the size and type of footwear in which the lining is later to be employed. For example, for a man's standardshoe shoemaking requirements would be best served by applying to goods a yard wide three continuous lengthwise bands each 3%" wide leaving two central untreated bands each 7" wide and two marginal untreated bands each 6" wide.

The doctor knife used as an applicator of the compound maybe oscillated to produce a wavy movement and thus a serrated or scalloped marsin to the treated bands, or we may so taper the is eifected at the margins of the treated areas whereby a scarf effect is produced.

The compound used to stifien the bandsor areas may vary within certain limits. For cheaper shoes we may employ water dispersable compounds such as starch, dextrine, glue and sodium silicate, with or without modifying amounts of rubber latex and the like; for better grades of footwear we may elect to usethermoplastic compounds of which the following is typical:

Per cent Montan wax 20 I Calcium res 20 Oandelilla wax 20 Rosin 30 Rubber 10 For shoes of the best quality, however, we have found a compound consisting of substantially the Ethyl cellulose "pounds-.. Y2 De-waxed gum damar do V Toluene fiuid ounces 113 We coat or impregnate the bands with the se-" lectedstiifening compound whereupon the web is dried and rolled into a roll or coil for shipment to the shoe factory.

The shoemaker lays his patterns or dies for vamps, for example, on the fabric employing a full-length vamp and laying his die on the cloth in suchrmanner that it intrudes into the stiffened area to the desired extent. For example, if he wishes to merely have in his finished shoe an end" box toe he will lay his die or pattern upon the fabric to include only the extreme tip within the prestiffened area; if he desires a normal box toe in his finished shoe he will employ all, or the major part of the prestiifened area within'the scope of his die. a

v The died-out lining blanks for the Vamps, quarters or other parts, out to include the desired stiffened area within them, we nowassemble with the upper material, such as leather, satin and the like. We prefer to assemble these in such a manner that the stiffening coating on the lining is located within the upper, that is, facing the flesh or inner face of the upper leather. This assembly may be accomplished with rubber adhesive, paste or stitching.

The shoe is'now ready for lasting and may be doctor knife that a smaller deposit of compound is pulled-over at room temperatures or, in the case of tough upper materials the forepart or rearpart may be steamed or moistened. At the secondary lasting, where such is employed, steam or solvent may be used in the well-known manner to produce complete confonnability to the last.

The uppers may be perforated very conveniently after stitching as only two plies or layers of upper material are involved, the prestiifenedlin- .ing further serving to produce clean outlines.

Ourinvention is equally suitable for plain-toe or .cap-toe shoes. In the latter case-the pattern is cut with exactly sufficient prestii'fened area included to match or mate with the line of cap-toe tip stitching.

It is obvious that in shoes made by our process the stiffener constitutes 'an integral part of the lining and that the clicker-die, for example, accurately predetermineswhere the supported or stiffened area in the finished shoe will be located.

ofour invention, showing a vamp lining out therefrom,

Figure 2 is a view of an assembled vamp and Fig. 3 illustrates a perforated lined vamp, and

,Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a lasted shoe in which is incorporated the lining of our, invention.

The lining fabric may comprise any suitable woven textile lining fabric such for example, as that disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,088,158, granted July 27, 1937, on an application of Henry M. Spe'lman, and like the lining fabric therein disclosed it may be coated on one surface with a rubberized compound including vulcanizing and accelerating ingredients. This lining fabric is obtainable in sheets of any desired width and length. To the treated surface of this fabric are now applied several continuous lengthwise bands ll of stiffening compound. Two of such bands are shown in Fig. 1 but the number and spacing is optional and will depend upon how the sheet by any suitable spreading device. In coolin the molten band to some extent enters the surface 2,s7s,4o4 a as to include a portion of the'band H in the a latent capacity of softening when heated.

The vamp lining 12 may now be pasted or cemented to the outer integument l3 of the upper, and this of course, may be of any desired material, but herein indicated as being leather. If it is desired to employ the vamp in a perforated shoe it is desirable to cement the composite lining blank securely, in face to face contact with the flesh side of the vamp l3 and having been thus prepared the composite vamp may be perforated as suggested in Fig. 3.

Having assembled the upper, which now includes the composite lining of our invention, it may be pulled over in the usual manner without the necessity of employing any separate box toe stiflener blank and thus is eliminated from the shoemaking process the entire burden of providing and handling separate stiffener blanks. For these is substituted a single composite sheet requiring no more attention in its preparation and generally limited in men's shoes to 250 pairs per When the pulled-over upper goes to the lasting operation the outer integument may be temporarily turned back and the composite lining V subjected to moist or dry heat so that the band interstices of the fabric and in hardening becomes firmly bonded to the fabric. The band herein shown is substantially transparent and mayincrease the thickness of the sheets by .010" to .012", while if forcibly stripped from the fabric, the band will be found to measure approximately .015" in thickness. It is dry, normally non-adherent or non-tacky, flexibleandhas considerable resilient stiffness. While I prefer to employ a lining fabric with a treated surface of the character disclosed because there is a favorable reaction or at least compatible relationship between the coating of the fabric and the material of the applied band, it is within the scope of the invention to employ lining fabric without special surface treatment or with any. desired sizing.

As suggested in Fig. l a vamp lining has been died out of the composite sheet in such location II is temporarily renderedlimp, entirely plastic and adhesive. The toe lasting operation is carried out with the lining in this condition and in the lasted upper the coated area of the lining will be bonded to the outer integument and the line lines of the last will be reproduced with accuracy and precision.

We have mentioned the advantage of employing our novel composite lining in a perforated upper because in this style of shoe it is particularly desirable that no displacement of a stiffening blank'should occur after the upper has been perforated. The novel lining of our invention positively eliminates this danger.

It will be understood from the foregoing discussion that the wax-resin-rubber stiffening compound referred to is but one example, although the best now known t us, of a, heat-responsive thermoplastic or thermo-setting compound. The cellulose-gum-acetone compound is, similarly one illustration of a solvent responsive stiffening compound. This compound may be applied.

sive in the assembled upper by being moistened with acetone.

The starch-dextrine-glue compound above mentioned is an example of a stiffening compound which may be applied to the lining fabric in a water solution and which may be temporarily softened and rendered adhesive by moisture in the assembled upper. V

The Various formulae above set forth are the best now known to us, but they may be varied and other ingredients substituted without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the cellulose-gum-acetone compound instead of ethyl cellulose we may employ vinyl acetate, cellulose acetate, pyroxylin, polymeric styrene or the equivalent. For de-waxed gum damar we may employ rosin gum', ester gum, pontinak, loba, er equivalent gum substances. For toluene we may substitute benzol or a suitable aromatic hydrocarbon. For the acetone ingredient we may substitute ethyl or methyl alcohol, ethyl or methyl ketone, orthe equivalent.

A lining having a stifllenins band or zone of the type above discussed may be temporarily softened in the shoemaking process by any suitable volatile solvent such as acetone or ethyl acetate.

While for reasons of convenience it is preferable that the applied bands shall be dry, flexible and non-adherent; because in that case the goods may be rolled up, stored and handled like so much yard seeds, these characteristics are not essential features of our invention. For example, the applied bands may be normally so stiff that it is more convenient to handle the lining material in sheets instead of rolling it. While a normal or initial non-adherent band surface is desirable that feature too is of only secondary importance and should occasion arise the composite lining material may be handled with suitable separator sheets.

Our novel process of making shoe lining blanks is not claimed herein but forms the subject matter of our copending divisional application Serial No. 538,390 filed June 2, 1944.

Having thus disclosed our invention and described in detail certain specific embodiments of our novel composite lining and of its manner of use, we claim as new and desire ters Patent.

A shoe having an upper comprising an outer integument and a lining bonded thereto in a limited area and forming therewith an integral composite sheet, and a layer of solvent-responsive stiffening material comprising substantially ethyl cellulose 1b.. dewaxed gum damar V 1b., toluene 13 oz., acetone 5'7 oz. supplying a bond between the outer integument and the lining.

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